Airbnb Answers: Guest profile photos

[Airbnb]

Update: January, 2019

A few months ago, we told you about some changes Airbnb was making to the way guest profile photos are displayed. You can read the original post, below.

Now that those changes are being introduced gradually, we want to make sure you have all the information you need. Here’s a recap of what will be changing, along with some tips.

New photo process

Moving forward, rather than displaying a potential guest’s profile photo before the booking is accepted, you’ll receive a guest’s photo after you’ve accepted the booking request. If you have Instant Book turned on, you won’t notice a change to the booking process.

Airbnb does not require guests to have profile photos. Although most guests provide a photo, some have told us they don’t want to share a picture of themselves when booking, and we listened.

At the same time, many of you told us that you value guest profile photos, and we listened to you, too. That’s why we’ve introduced a new option for hosts to be able to customize their own booking requirements.

New host control

You now have the option to require that your guests provide a profile photo. Again, the photo will be visible to you only after you accept the booking request. If you’d like to require your guests to provide a profile photo, you’ll need to turn on the control option in your settings for each of your listings, either on mobile or on web. Specifically:

On mobile:

1. Go to the listing you’d like to require profile photos for
2. Tap Booking settings
3. Tap Guest requirements
4. Look for the Profile photo section and tap Edit
5. Tap Require a profile photo
6. Tap Save

On web:

1. From your host dashboard, click Listings
2. Click Booking settings
3. Next to Guest requirements, click Edit
4. Check the box next to Profile photo
5. Click Save

If you take this step and a potential guest doesn’t already have a profile photo, they’ll be prompted to upload one before they can request to book your space. A guest’s profile photo will not be available to you until after you accept the booking request. If the guest doesn’t want to provide a photo, then they won’t be able to book your space. 

Additional support

If you choose to require that your guests have a profile photo and one of your potential guests uploads an image that doesn’t show their face—a photo of a sunset or their dog, for instance—then you can call Airbnb’s Community Support. They’ll work with you to address the issue, and if you feel uncomfortable hosting someone without a photo that shows their face, you can request to cancel the reservation penalty-free.

As a reminder, Airbnb’s nondiscrimination policy prohibits hosts from making booking decisions or canceling reservations based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. 

As an extra step, as always, you can require guests to provide a government ID to Airbnb in order to be able to book your space. You can read more about that process here.

Why these changes are important

We talked with lots of hosts and guests about profile photos, and we think these changes satisfy the core concerns and feedback we heard. We’ll be paying close attention to how these changes to profile photos affect our community, and will continue working to improve and simplify the process to ensure you feel comfortable hosting. We hope you’ll share your feedback with us so we can continue to build a community where everyone can belong. Thank you for hosting.

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October, 2018

You've been asking a lot about guest profile photos, and Airbnb has been working on new policies to address your concerns. Here is an update from Airbnb:

Today, we’re announcing some changes we will be making to the way we display guest profile photos.

Moving forward, rather than displaying a potential guest’s profile photo before the booking is accepted, hosts will receive a guest’s photo in the booking process only after they’ve accepted the booking request. Airbnb does not require all guests to provide a photo. Instead, we’ll be giving hosts the option to ask their guests to provide a profile photo, which will only be presented to hosts after they accept the booking. We have discussed some of this work in the past and we want you to know more about the changes we will be making in the coming months.

We have participated in a number of conversations with hosts and guests regarding this topic. We have listened to our community, and while most guests provide a photo, some guests told us they don’t want to share a picture of themselves when booking. We also recognize that concerns have been raised about the potential for photos to be misused in a way that violates our nondiscrimination policy.

At the same time, hosts have told us that they value profile photos because they can help hosts and guests get to know one another before a trip begins and help hosts recognize guests when they check in. Additionally, we’ve seen how photos can be a useful tool for enhancing trust and promoting community.

We want to balance these concerns. Airbnb does not require guests to provide a profile photo when booking a listing and, as we discussed earlier this summer with our hosts, we will be implementing a series of changes in the months ahead:

• If a guest chooses to provide a profile photo, that profile photo won’t be displayed to the host as part of the booking process until after the booking is confirmed.
• Because some hosts value profile photos and want to be able to know who they can expect at their front door, we will give hosts the option to ask that guests provide a profile photo prior to booking, which will only be presented to the host after the host accepts the booking request. This new option comes with important safeguards that are designed to ensure our community is fair and open to everyone:
  • Hosts must turn on this feature for each of their listings proactively, before they receive a reservation request.
  • If a host asks for a profile photo, we’ll prompt guests to upload one to their Airbnb profile before they can request to book that host’s particular listing; however, the photo will not be presented to the host until after the booking is confirmed.

If a host cancels a reservation after they see a guest’s photo, the guest will have an easy way to contact Airbnb and report any concerns about potential discrimination by the host in violation of our nondiscrimination policy and Community Commitment. If any guest believes he or she has been discriminated against and notifies our team, we’ll immediately help them book an alternative listing consistent with our Open Doors Policy, investigate the report, and take appropriate action. Any host who violates our nondiscrimination policy may be permanently banned from using Airbnb.

This announcement follows the commitment we made in 2016 to evaluate how we display guest profile photos in the booking process. As we implement these changes in the coming months, we hope you’ll share your feedback with us so we can continue to make thoughtful changes that make the Airbnb community a place where everyone can belong.

[Sheri30]

HI Everyone,

I'm on a mission. I might get my listing deleted as a result, but this policy is a bad call on their part. We need to have our feelings and voices be heard. 

I'm a single woman host and it's great to see so many men feeling angry about this too! I'm a psychotherapist and last year a former client attempted to stay with me! The only reason I knew it was him was because I could see his face. I politely declined due to ethical concerns. It would have been extremely problematic had he been able to book with me. 

I have hosted folks of all races and religions from all over the world and this is why I have loved being a host. How much of an issue really is profiling on Airbnb? If it's that much of an issue, this is not the answer to solving that problem. 

I even booked folks who showed their kids and dogs, at least their was a sense of "humanity," not a grayed out circle with a name. 

I'll be declining bookings until this policy changes and did so today with a note explaining why. I recommend we all do the same. I got the idea from another Airbnb Super Host. I even put a note in my listing about the policy and that folks will now have to have reviews to stay with me due to Airbnb's new policies. 

The supervisor said to share your feedback here. Pass it on! https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

[Debbie270]

@Sheri30

check page 74 for reply from Airbnb on this issue. 

They don’t care that the hosts are upset and don’t like the invisible profile picture. So each host will have to decide for himself/herself how to deal with this new policy. No one is going to join a revolution. 

For myself, I changed instant book to only allow guests with previous reviews to book. I also added specific questions in my requirements that the potential guest has to answer in the request. All guests are required to present photo ID at check in and all guests’ names and ages must be submitted at the time the reservation is made. I no longer have self checkin. I meet every guest at my property at an agreed upon time to be sure the person who booked the property is actually there.

I explain in my response to the request that Airbnb no longer allows hosts to see profile pictures prior to completing the reservation and that the policy makes hosts nervous about welcoming people site unseen into their homes.  I politely ask if they would be willing to share a social media link with me prior to completing the reservation.  This has worked quite well for me so far.  If the guest refuses to answer the questions in the requirements or doesn’t send the names and ages of the party members, then I can refuse the request because they did not follow the host requirements. No penalty or blocked dates. However, I can’t refuse based on not seeing a picture. 

[Sarah2054]

What about safeguarding the host? We'd never discriminate against guests but we are taking a risk and are being made vulnerable if we can't see reviews from other hosts. I don't need a photo but I do want reviews, where available before letting strangers into my home. This is a really had policy. Please review

[Ahmet14]

I completely agree with this idea. This will also be a good way to get a good behavior of the people who think to continue to be guest with Airbnb. 

[Donald28]

I'd be totally fine with only seeing a guests photo AFTER they book IF airbnb gave me their full name and location in the booking request so I can FBook and google search them to make sure they aren't felons or crazies that are going to trash my property.

Instead of HELPING hosts, airbnb took away the photo AND the last name prior to booking, making it WORSE for hosts!  So now, I get a booking request from "angel" with zero reviews and no last name, location or photo.

How can I accept this booking with just a first name?! Try walking into a hotel and getting a room with just your first name. 

[Patsy6]

I totally agree with you. I just had a guest who gave a "fake" last name. Airbnb is not providing hosts with accurate guest 

Information...now how safe is that?

[David1747]

Yes you can walk into a hotel and book a room with just your first name, Donald -- at least you can here in the Philippines. They are called short time hotels, and you go there to have sex. In Japan they are called love hotels. That's the level to which Airbnb have reduced us now.

[Richard1188]

I vehemently disagree with Airbnb's policy regarding not displaying a photograph before I accept a booking. I view it as a volilation on my entitlement to know who is coming to stay before I accept a booking. This has nothing to do with gender, race, or age or otherwise. I have a right to make an informed decison to whom may stay in my guest room. It's perfecly reasonable on my part.

I have hosted at least 30 nationalities, I have a wide spectrum of friends,  my late wife was Portuguese, of Spanish, Singaporian, Indian, and Irish heritage and I genuinely enjoy and value meeting people from all walks of life. 

If I accept a blind booking, but cancel I loose my superhost. I am therefore forced or bullied by Airbnb to make a blind booking. Airbnb has exercised complete disregard, and they are utterly incompetent, having failed to respond when I contacted them earlier in the week.

Richard

[Richard1188]

I don't do facebook, so I won't be looking at external means to see their face before I accept.

My views of Airbnb have plummeted in the last few days, and I have now lost faith in the system. 

[Christine1]

Hi all, 

In the terms of agreement hosts are independent operators and have responsibility for making choices about accepting bookings and furthermore Airbnb does not warrant the verifications checks which  they conduct. This is understandable, no-one of us could.

Photos are a resource which can be cross checked against other information provided to Airbnb and untill now, to hosts.  It's not clear to me whether Airbnb just lodge the information on their database, and what level of cross check occurs. Making the photos optional removes this prebooking security tool for hosts. We are then much more reliant on the Airbnb checks, none of which we can verify, nor can we consider Airbnb to be truly responsible at law for the checks which they conduct.

It may be that Airbnb have legal responsibility in this area; however that would only be demonstrated by test cases across individual jurisdictions.  Most of these would likely be civil suits which occur after a serious event. Not ideal. Prevention of safety breaches would be better than allocating blame after injury has occurred.  

Both male and female hosts and guests are vulnerable, particularly in classic homesharing situations. 

On the occasion of International Women's Day, the relationship between Airbnb and female hosts is particularly open to question. Is Airbnb really empowering women? Or turning a blind eye to their safety concerns, while at the same time encouraging them into an activity which puts them into situations of extreme personal vulnerability. It's   not a good look.  We can all think of other industries predominantly run and controlled by one group of people who work on the sidelines to facilitate and extract value from the personal services, and resources of vulnerable and needy women who are trying to generate a supplementary income. 

I want to feel more confident that my safety and the safety of other female and male homesharing hosts is paramount, and by that I do mean paramount; Above and prioritised over everything else. Because once some things are done they cannot be repaired or undone. While I acknowledge that there have been some truly ignorant and somewhat grating comments made by individual hosts, the Airbnb executive officer in charge of safety really needs to step up and impress upon other sections of the organisation that this issue has the potential to cost lives and destroy the reputation of Airbnb. They should recognise this and not let their department be overruled on this. Everyone's best interest are served by adhering to the motto, Safety First. Please. https://press.airbnb.com/women-hosts-are-leading-the-way-on-airbnb/

[Corinne284]

Elizabeth Warren wants to break up Google, Amazon and Facebook.  I'm just saying, this is what's happening in the news:

It’s a dragnet that now encompasses Alphabet and Amazon (but I don’t think it touches Facebook?). The new law would also be required to meet a standard of fair and non-discriminatory use with their users, and platforms would be restricted from sharing user data with third parties.

For companies with revenues below $25 billion, they’d be required to adhere to the fair use standard.

Warren would give state attorneys general and private parties the right to sue a platform for conduct that violates those requirements and the government could fine a company 5 percent of their annual revenue for violating the terms of the new legislation.

[Amanda815]

Corrine, you are very smart, thank you for the information.  Now if someone would take control of the insurance industry!

[Christine1]

@Corinne284 , hi and thanks for your contribution. Definitely there is a legitimate  corporate fear behind these profile photo changes. 

For my part I would prefer it if Airbnb maintained more confidence in it's home based hosts who are seeking to invite a variety of individuals into their homes. For mosts hosts the more diverse the more interesting is their hosting experience.

We use photos only to support the checks we make in order to eztablish the bona fides of potential guests. That's the only reason we use the pictures. 

There are numerous criteria that confirm the suitability of a guest. Factors that hosts recognise will result in a good match between the potential guest, and the host's facilities. It's  not a perfect system, but clear, open communication improves the quality of the decision making by both parties. 

The photos are just there to support the verification process and it's  really a matter for individuals. Airbnb isn't facilitating discrimination by posting photos.  

When travelling to Paris a few years back, my accomodation requests were rejected about 6 times, for no particular reason, and once I got a booking it was cancelled without warning a few weeks later and very close to my trip. My confidence was shaken. The hosts were perhaps fishing for bigger bookings, or something. But they would have been somewhat downgraded in search results, and received a penalty that way. A consistent penalty like this is a deterrent to rejecting bookings and a disincentive to discrimination. 

The more diverse and open the platform is to a wide variety of hosts the better for everyone. Guests can search venues based on accommodation criteria, and the host pic is secondary to the picture of the bed and bath.

Likewise, for Host's the guest's  picture is secondary to their stated accommodation needs, and whether they provide consistent information to reassure the host about who is actually intending to travel and how they are expecting to utilise the venue.

It's  as simple as that. 

[Adam107]

This company is now imposing thier own clients on us. Host use to be a part of the product, now we ARE the product and have no say about it.  Are there any alternative to AirBnb that rent out rooms, and not the entire property?   I hope some competition enters the market soon!   😕  

[Peta7]

This measure was aparently introduced to 'include all'

The problem with 'including all' in Johannesburg is if we do allow inclusion of the local Johannesburg guests (no reference to familial status) the rest of the world's populace are excluded as we are now permanently booked by locals wishing to study, work from home, looking for altenative long term accommodation and every other reason except for travelling or touring as most International guests do?